UPDATE: Amazon to Raise Fees (7 days to lock in on Prime Pricing)

GuyWithGun

GuyWithGun

CAGiversary!
Looks like possible price increases all around.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/31/technology/amazons-shares-fall-as-revenue-disappoints.html

Amazon has 237 million active customers but as a general rule makes almost no profit. Thursday’s announcement that the company was considering raising prices by as much as 50 percent on its $79 Prime shipping program could mean $500 million for its skimpy bottom line.
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Thomas J. Szkutak, Amazon’s chief financial officer, said the price increase for Prime, if it happens, would be $20 to $40.
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****************************UPDATE********************************

It's happening. Announcement is on the Amazon home page. If you are already a prime member you might not see the price change announcement on the home page, instead you have to go to your Account page and there's an alert there that explains the price change.

Get Prime within the next 7 days to lock in the $79 pricing. After that the price will raise to $99.

 
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pitfallharry219 said:
I'd rather they get rid of the Prime streaming service rather than raise the price.
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They need to get rid of all the BS loopholes that let the bottom feeders use prime without contributing anything.

They should have $39 to $49 yearly prime memberships for individuals and $79 to $99 for sharing up to 3 accounts.

Ban accounts that use prime to reship for their eBay business.

Close the .edu loophole for people that haven't been in college for years

Stop handing out credit on a whim

 
I thought it interesting that they said that IF they were to raise the cost of Prime that it would be at least $20-$40.  If there is still an IF in there that means they still have a choice and options, which means they can choose to not raise it so much.

 
I don't see how $275 million in profit equals "(Amazon) makes almost no profit." Sounds more like major stock holders aren't happy with Amazon not meeting their profit projections for the quarter.
 
Truth be told while the cost of shipping has increased, so has Amazon's warehouses. They leverage that the item ships from a local warehouse, and it would be 2 day shipping regardless. (for example, sending something "ground" from almost anywhere on eastern half of the USA will usually be 2 days until delivery to Washington DC, there's no need to pay extra for 2 day rate)

At this point though it seems odd to have shipping + video service bundled. Would probably make people mad though that have prime through thier company and get free video streaming though xD

 
GBAstar said:
They need to get rid of all the BS loopholes that let the bottom feeders use prime without contributing anything.

They should have $39 to $49 yearly prime memberships for individuals and $79 to $99 for sharing up to 3 accounts.

Ban accounts that use prime to reship for their eBay business.

Close the .edu loophole for people that haven't been in college for years

Stop handing out credit on a whim
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This shit right here. Amazon stretches itself thin trying to get everyone and their mother to use Prime, whether they're paying for it or not, and the real subscribers, like us, actually foot the bill.

 
If forced, I guess I'd be ok with paying 20 bucks more. I certainly use it enough.

But I could probably live without the streaming service, so if dumping that would keep the price closer to where it is, I'd prefer that. If anything I'd rather they give me more cloud player storage for being a Prime member. Yeah, I know Google gives you way more for nothing, I just slightly prefer Amazon to Google Play as far as actually using it for music playback and downloading...but Amazon's free-level cloud player storage is pretty pathetic as far as space restrictions.

More than all of that though, I agree with the post suggesting they get rid of all the fucking leeches and freeloaders that are using it for Ebay shipping and making college accounts years after the fact.
 
Yeah, I doubt I'd keep it if the price goes up at all.

I have most things shipped to a P.O. Box now as we kept having packages stolen off our doorstep at our new place.  Prime just gives free standard shipping to P.O. boxes--so usually 3 or 4 business days instead of one or two.  Borderline worth it for the $79 a year, definitely not worth any more than that.  We don't use the streaming much anymore since we just started using my parent's Netflix log in as their selection is better.

 
Amazon does have a good amount of unique streaming content but their apps on consoles and bd players are terrible and there is no excuse for not having an android app.

They need to improve that stuff if they want me to keep it.
 
I wouldn't mind paying $100 for Prime but not $159.  If it doubles to that I'm gone unless they REALLY improve the streaming offerings.  I mean I like all the silent films they have now but it should be updated to HD in the process.

 
KaneRobot said:
More than all of that though, I agree with the post suggesting they get rid of all the fucking leeches and freeloaders that are using it for Ebay shipping and making college accounts years after the fact.
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Amazon already removes people who have unusual, re-seller like patterns from Prime and they have requirements for Amazon student:

(1) have an Amazon.com account, (2) be a college student actively enrolled in at least one course at a college geographically located in one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, (3) be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request and (4) have a valid e-mail address that contains the domain suffix .edu

 
Rozz said:
Amazon already removes people who have unusual, re-seller like patterns from Prime and they have requirements for Amazon student:

(1) have an Amazon.com account, (2) be a college student actively enrolled in at least one course at a college geographically located in one of the 50 United States, the District of Columbia, or Puerto Rico, (3) be able to provide proof of enrollment upon request and (4) have a valid e-mail address that contains the domain suffix .edu
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I had a couple of emails from Amazon about this type of behavior for something I did for work that required purchasing multiple items and shipping them out to numerous recipients, plus sending items from Amazon to employees out in the field.

They do audit it and they do check on it, and after a good explanation, they were fine with it and thanked me for the explanation.

I'm sure this will start getting checked more regularly and will get tighter on booting people out that are abusing Prime.

 
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Considering it hasn't gone up in price from $79 when it was introduced 9 years ago, I wouldn't have a problem swallowing another $20; but more than that and I'm most likely out. A few of my packages were ultimately given to a regional courier and I had my doubts given some of the horror stories posted in their reviews but I've never actually had a problem. I think they've done a good job of introducing value-added services to it as well (Instant Video, Kindle borrowing, etc) and with the cost of fuel and other aspects of delivery service on the rise, a rate hike had to be expected. 

I could also see the low margin coming into play as well. We're often swapping stories of price matching and being given credit for problems that most companies would snub us on.

Don't get wrong though, I'll show my age when I say that a part of me still remembers my angst from when "Free shipping" went from an internet standard to just being a memory altogether. 

 
Amazon has 237 million active customers but as a general rule makes almost no profit.
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That's pure BS. I don't know who wrote that article but that's financially not even possible. To have a business you absolutely have to have a profit. So general rule my ass. They're also one of the biggest online retail websites in the world so please spare me this crock they aren't making profit.

I'm not happy about them raising Prime but honestly as much shopping as I do there I don't mind. As long as you're spending more than what you pay for Prime there in a year you're getting an excellet deal since you aren't paying shipping on anything and getting it in 2 days. 3.99 for next day still, yeah, but that is ridiculously cheap and worth it when you compare it to their regular costs or competitors. I'm concerned with them raising their general merch prices though as thanks to almost every state following suit pretty much every state requires Amazon to tax now so I've been feeling it since Fall. One of the biggest draws to Amazon was they didn't tax and now that they are they are not always the first place I go to for things now with that added cost and if they start raising everything else they will no longer be my one-stop place like they have for years.

I also agree with the poster that said they need to tighten their Prime free policy and get rid of the exploiters. I always knew loopholes existed but didn't give a shit as long as nothing affected me but it's clear Amazon has stretched themselves too far with all these Prime shortcuts that people are using against them now. I'm sure I won't be popular with this next idea but they really need to can the free Prime for students too. That's one of the primary ways people are exploiting them and it just needs to go. At least what they should do if they won't get rid of it is offer it at a reduced fee or put limits on it. It's a premium service that people pay for and I don't believe you should get it for free just because you're going to school. Whatever they end up doing, they shouldn't leave it as is as that's not something that should be free.

 
^ Amazon should limit free student prime to textbooks, school supplies, computers and high margin items. I can't see that program being profitable for Amazon at all and as you said that is the biggest exploit available. I know they have tightened the restrictions (you used to be able to register bogus .edu accounts and extend your service indefinitely) but now I think they require some sort of documentation that you're taking classes.

I just don't see the appeal to Amazon though of giving students free shipping unless it's a goodwill PR thing; I mean at times they'll even have "student only" discounts on things

 
Navex said:
That's pure BS. I don't know who wrote that article but that's financially not even possible.
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You should check your facts before ranting and raving about people lying. In Q3 2013, Amazon posted a $41 million loss, despite sales going from $13 billion to $17 billion. Just because they do a lot of business doesn't mean they make a lot of money, especially when your profit margin is as low as Amazon's.
 
Oh I guess Amazon only operates 3 month out of the year. I guess the other 3 quarters don't count in which they made $300 million or so. 

Profits in every business are "paper-thin" but let's be honest when you're making hundred of millions a year your profits aren't anything to worry about if you maintain a smart, competitive business which Amazon is doing. But if Amazon actually starts losing money in the future it will be because they failed to adapt and people will have moved on so it wouldn't matter to the end consumer anyways.

 
Access_Denied said:
You should check your facts before ranting and raving about people lying. In Q3 2013, Amazon posted a $41 million loss, despite sales going from $13 billion to $17 billion. Just because they do a lot of business doesn't mean they make a lot of money, especially when your profit margin is as low as Amazon's.
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They still made a profit. Any company has losses, very few don't have internal revenue loss unless they're named Wal-Mart whose numbers only keep going up every year. I'm not wrong since they still made a profit and factually you HAVE to make a profit to even hold down a business so please spare me your economics 101.

 
Navex said:
They still made a profit. Any company has losses, very few don't have internal revenue loss unless they're named Wal-Mart whose numbers only keep going up every year. I'm not wrong since they still made a profit and factually you HAVE to make a profit to even hold down a business so please spare me your economics 101.
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You're just embarrassing yourself now. Stop.

JetTone said:
Oh I guess Amazon only operates 3 month out of the year. I guess the other 3 quarters don't count in which they made $300 million or so.

Profits in every business are "paper-thin" but let's be honest when you're making hundred of millions a year your profits aren't anything to worry about if you maintain a smart, competitive business which Amazon is doing. But if Amazon actually starts losing money in the future it will be because they failed to adapt and people will have moved on so it wouldn't matter to the end consumer anyways.
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You think those "profits aren't anything to worry about?" $300M profit on their revenue is terrible. $300M might sound like a lot but not when your market cap is 165B and you have sales of 75B. If you told investors, amazon was going to make $300M a year from now on, they'd dump the stock in a blink.

shrike4242 said:
I had a couple of emails from Amazon about this type of behavior for something I did for work that required purchasing multiple items and shipping them out to numerous recipients, plus sending items from Amazon to employees out in the field.

They do audit it and they do check on it, and after a good explanation, they were fine with it and thanked me for the explanation.

I'm sure this will start getting checked more regularly and will get tighter on booting people out that are abusing Prime.
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Are you sure they actually contacted you and let you explain? From what people who get banned say, you would think Amazon just drops the ban hammer on you without giving you a chance! And for returning like 2 things!
 
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Confucius said:
Are you sure they actually contacted you and let you explain? From what people who get banned say, you would think Amazon just drops the ban hammer on you without giving you a chance! And for returning like 2 things!
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Yes, they did actually contact me. The email was that my buying patterns weren't in line with the TOU for Amazon Prime, they were reviewing the situation and wished to get my input on what the situation was that seemed out of line with the TOU of Amazon Prime. I sent off my email reply, they replied to my email, I replied to their second email and they thanked me for taking the time to clear up the situation.

I had legitimate reasons to why I was ordering items from Amazon and then shipping them out to different individuals that weren't in line with the other locations I've had past ordering history with, plus other new locations that were getting repeated shipments sent to. It was a one-time need for work and I explained it in detail to Amazon, plus the new additional locations getting orders.

I did get the idea that if I didn't have a reasonable explanation for the change in shipment habits, they would have ended my Prime membership for my work. That came across quite clearly in the initial email. Then again, since I was a corporate customer with an Amazon credit line, numerous past months of thousands of dollars of orders in a row, and multiple years of order history. That established history that had this situation show up as an anomaly, that probably had something to do with it as well and why they were making an inquiry and not banning the Prime membership without some explanation.

 
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GBAstar said:
They need to get rid of all the BS loopholes that let the bottom feeders use prime without contributing anything.


They should have $39 to $49 yearly prime memberships for individuals and $79 to $99 for sharing up to 3 accounts.

Ban accounts that use prime to reship for their eBay business.

Close the .edu loophole for people that haven't been in college for years

Stop handing out credit on a whim
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This 👏
 
Well, it's happening.  Keeping it sub-$100 for Prime.  At least they realized that there was probably going to be a huge psychological barrier at the $100 point that would lose them a lot of customers.

 
I'm okay with paying the extra $10 for the student rate. If i was paying the regular rate; wouldn't mind spending the extra $20. Considering how much stuff there is available for two-day ship (and now with a new warehouse even closer to my location) I've been getting a lot of stuff next day,for free.

 
Welp. Locked in my rate for a year. With the kid coming, I'm sure that I'll be getting more than my money's worth with the overnight shipping after a few orders.
 
For 20$ more i hope their services are better, who am i kidding they wont be.

 
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Guyz... how do I lock in and extend my Australian .edu e-mail free student Prime account that I share with 20 others and use solely to drop ship my eBay orderz and beg for free credit????

HELP PLEASE!

 
GBAstar said:
Guyz... how do I lock in and extend my Australian .edu e-mail free student Prime account that I share with 20 others and use solely to drop ship my eBay orderz and beg for free credit????

HELP PLEASE!
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Says the guy who had his Amazon account banned for skirting their policy on limiting quantities of items.

 
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1. The streaming is not a separate service. They know if it was, no one would subscribe when compared to Netflix and Hulu, which offer superior, more streamlined and polished solutions.

2. 50% increase would be $119, not $159 as a poster above mentioned.

3. Amazon has razor thin margins or none at all. Thus, little to no profit, depending on the state of consumer spending. 

4. $20 increase is almost nothing compared to the cost of actually paying for shipping yourself, especially at 2-day shipping from FedEx or UPS. How much can you ship for $20 via UPS or FedEx 2-day delivery? Not much.

I'm happy they raised the price and I'm happy to support them. I knew it was coming and expected it. I'm surprised how long they were able to keep the $79 in place honestly with the costs of shipping rising.

 
Just took a look and I'll be charged $39 in two weeks with my amazon student and then next year it says $49 charge for 2015...perfectly happy with this.  :)

 
dohdough said:
Welp. Locked in my rate for a year. With the kid coming, I'm sure that I'll be getting more than my money's worth with the overnight shipping after a few orders.
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Do Amazon Mom!

It's saved me a fuck load of money on diapers with the 20% subscribe and save discount
 
I didn't even need to do anything, this is the email I got from Amazon
 
"Dear Benjamouth,

We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing in 2015. Your 2014 annual renewal will remain at the original price of $79. On September 30, 2015, your membership will renew at $99/year."

 
benjamouth said:
I didn't even need to do anything, this is the email I got from Amazon

"Dear Benjamouth,

We are writing to provide you advance notice that the price of your Prime membership will be increasing in 2015. Your 2014 annual renewal will remain at the original price of $79. On September 30, 2015, your membership will renew at $99/year."
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I wonder if they got enough backlash that they've started doing this proactively. And also they are aware of the gifting method anyway.

 
Checked my account and have this message:

On April 08, 2014, you will be charged $79 for another year of Prime. Starting April 08, 2015, you will be charged $99 per year.
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So I'm good for now. I'll definitely keep it. I'll probably keep it for $99 too, especially if I moved (though I kind of doubt I'll move again by then). My main hesitancy, as noted above, is having most things shipped to my PO Box due to package theft problems we've had at my new place as the neighborhood is pretty shady. Prime shipping is less worth it there since it's just free standard shipping to PO boxes rather than 2 day--things tend to take 4-5 business days.

 
There is a pretty easy way to lock in Prime at the existing $79/yr price, not sure if this is stackable, but you could at least get another year out of it.

Buy a giftable Prime membership here:  https://www.amazon.com/gp/prime/pipeline/prime_gifting_landing

(Copy and paste from SD)

1) Set the delivery date as the date after your membership expires.

2) Enter your own e-mail address as the gift recipient. It is okay if this is the exact e-mail address already associated with your Amazon Prime account.
3) Place order (total will be $79).
4) Turn off your Prime auto-renew.
5) On the day after your membership expires, you will receive an e-mail from Amazon with the gift membership. Follow the instructions to apply it to your account.

Pretty straightforward.  I'm not sure why the thread title refers to 7 days to lock in the current price, with this method you have until April 16th (and maybe even the 17th) to do this.

And it's interesting to note that Prime is no longer a moneymaker for Amazon at $79/yr.  The Jeff Bezos philosophy is to continually expand and improve services, so I am pretty confident the overall customer experience will improve as well.  

http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2014/03/13/amazon-prime/

 
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